Industry Aligned Rural Engineering Program

使农村社区的经济和工业基础多样化具有挑战性。例如，农村社区可能很难培养出符合当地工业需求的劳动力。这种斗争对于环境条件具有挑战性的地区的孤立社区尤其如此，例如加利福尼亚州帝国县，那里的温度在夏季可以长时间超过110度。这个地区的贫困率是该州第二高的，移民农业工人的比例是该州最高的。虽然农业部门在劳动力中占主导地位，但一小群坚定的工业合作伙伴对培养本土的工程专业学生有浓厚的兴趣。这些工业领导者未能吸引合格的候选人到这个荒凉的地区，留下了高薪职位空缺。这些行业代表了能源、水和采矿行业，这些行业的员工具有重叠的技能。 该奖项将使帝国谷学院，一个农村西班牙裔服务机构，开发一个为期一年的工程技术证书，将产生这些行业所需的熟练技术工人。 通过为当地经济中的高薪，稳定的工作做好准备，该项目有可能帮助减轻COVID-19对农村和西班牙裔社区的不成比例的影响。该证书课程将为帝国理工学院的学生提供实现教育目标所需的课程，并满足当地行业的需求。该项目建立在三个方面：帝国理工学院和加州圣地亚哥大学之间的现有合作关系，对帝国理工学院学生的基线调查表明他们对工程项目有浓厚的兴趣，以及当地行业合作伙伴的承诺。为了开发新的证书课程，帝国理工学院将创建一个新的创客空间，采用UCSD的课程，并将完成证书的学生安排到当地行业实习。新的创客空间将有助于教育学生和他们的家庭了解工业中高薪技术人员的工作机会。该项目的评估将告知行业和教育利益相关者如何有效地建立和加强社区学院和四年制院校之间的关系。 该项目由先进技术教育计划资助，该计划侧重于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Diversifying the economic and industrial base of rural communities is challenging. For example, rural communities can struggle to produce a workforce aligned with local industry needs. This struggle is especially true for isolated communities in areas with challenging environmental conditions like those found in Imperial County, CA, where the temperature can exceed 110 degrees for an extended period of time in the summer. This area has the second highest poverty rate and the highest ratio of migrant agricultural workers in the state. Although the agricultural sector dominates the workforce, a small group of committed industrial partners has a keen interest in developing a home-grown, local pipeline of engineering students. These industrial leaders have failed to attract qualified candidates to the inhospitable region, leaving higher paying jobs unfilled. The industries represent the energy, water, and mining industries whose employees have overlapping skill sets. This award will enable Imperial Valley College, a rural Hispanic Serving Institution, to develop a one-year Engineering Technology Certificate that will produce the skilled technical workers needed by these industries. By preparing workers for high paying, stable jobs in the local economy, this project the potential to help mitigate the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on rural and Hispanic communities.The certificate program will provide Imperial Valley College students with the classes needed to achieve their educational goals and meet the needs of the local industries. The project builds on three things: an existing partnership between Imperial Valley College and the University of California San Diego, a baseline survey of Imperial Valley College students that indicated a strong interest in an engineering program, and the commitment of local industry partners. To develop the new certificate program, Imperial Valley College will create a new makerspace, adopt curriculum from UCSD, and place students who complete the certificate into internships with local industries. The new makerspace will help educate students and their families about high wage technician job opportunities in industry. The evaluation of this project will inform industry and education stakeholders about how to effectively build and strengthen a relationship between a community college and a four-year institution. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.